Process for separating so2 and constituents of a similar dew point from gases by means of regenerators



R. BECKER Jan. 29, 1963 3,075,362

AND CONSTITUENTS OF A SIMILAR PROCESS FOR SEPARATING S0 M GASES BY MEANS OF REGENERATORS Filed Aug. 11, 1958 DEW POINT FRO sm g s 3 3 75,362 Patented Jan. 29, 19.63

BRQGESS SEPARATINGYSQZ NDL CQNSEEITU- ENrson A SIMILAR DEW-POINTFERQM GAS S- BY MEANS. OF REGENERA'EORS.

Rudo f. e ker du i lrS9 1.11;L G rm n signor to e el s h t r hiu s maschius k ien es l i schaf t, Munich, Germany, a company of Germany 'Filed Aug, 11; 1'958,-Ser.' No. 754,217

Claimspriority, application Germany-Sept. 25, 1957 1 Claim. (Cl. 62-12) The invention concerns a gas decomposing and liquefying plant operating at lowternperajtures Usually there is used for the production of cold a gas which has first beenbrought-to a higher temperatureanddhen,expanded work-producingly by ineans of a machine, for example, a turbine. The. gas current entering, the ,turbine isgenerally taken from the regenerator, cooled;.by.decomposition products, or branched off from the'pressu-re gascurrent issuing from this regenerator. In order to prevent the formation of condensate-of carbondioxide-CO ice or snow, for example in the expansion turbine, the gas current enteringthe turbine has: firshbeen preheated in a-heat-exchanger and/or purified by means ofadsjorptive agents. Both the heat exchangerand'the adsorbers considerably increased the cost of the entire plant.

According to German Patent No. 707,079, it is also known to carry out a process for the separation of gaseous impurities, particularly of carbon dioxide and gaseous sulfur compounds, from gas mixtures containing the same by freezing the impurities to solid bodies during the cooling of the gas mixture in periodically exchanged cold storage tanks and re-evaporating the solid constituents separated from the gas by means of an auxiliary gas in such manner that hydrogen-rich gas mixtures, particularly crude gases for the syn-thesis of benzine, are cooled to the dew point of the principal constituent present in the gas and having the highest dew point. In this process it is possible to connect the expansion turbine used for providing the cold directly to the regenerator arrangement, because all impurities contained in the starting mixtureparticularly carbon dioxidewhich could produce solid separations in the turbine are completely eliminated by the regenerators. The object of this process was to produce a synthetic residual synthesis gas with a low content of carbon dioxide, whose transformation to synthesis gas was no longer rendered difficult by the high CO content. The fact that on this occasion the constituents which are harmful for the operation of the expansion turbine are also eliminated, was a secondary feature, it was not however the subject of the problem underlying this process.

If the above mentioned known process were used only for carrying out the problem underlying the present invention, namely, to avoid the formation of condensates, ice or snow in the expansion turbine and not for purifying a subsequent worked up synthesis gas this would be an uneconomical process. The problem underlying the present invention is completely different from the above mentioned known problem, since the gases to be freed from S and other constituents initially contain CO in a concentration not more than 0.5 percent. Only because of the completely different problem was the described process justified in a situation where the economical op timum of the cooling temperature, which was found corresponding to a carbon dioxide content of 1 to 2% in the purified gas at a temperature of about -ll5 to -125 deg. C., was intentionally abandoned and a higher energy consumption was used.

The problem underlying the present invention consists in purifying a gas mixture, expanded by a machine, preferably a turbine, in a simpler and less expensive manner. It relates particularly to a process for removing S0 and other substances of a, similar orhighm dew point. by,

meansof' low temperature cooling in reversible regenera ors. or. counterflcwat chan (r e ng h t, xc ange v r m. a -t e n ni g ama um f.v

0.5%. carbon dioxide, which arefthen expanded work pmduei v r pa sion m h n P e e ab a -In,.this application the expression reversing heat exhanger is; meant; to n l ev s ble he t ex ha whichgmay or may. not comprise. a heat storage mass.

This inventive object is, by the procedure ofithe, present invention,. attained by selectingsuch an endutemperature;

of. he compr s d asu e. e pan e n e ur in that afterthe compressedjgas issues frornthe regenerator.

arrangement there is no.sep-aration of'liquid, ice or snow whichwould be harmfulto the turbine were it to be present in th'e compressed gas admitted intothe turbine. In. particular, the temperature producedaccording to. the, inventionat thecold endbfithe regenerator arrangement. istsuch thata partial pressure of the constituent to'be separatedrelates to apartial volume of at most 5110 0 ,d o bly o e a abo tw p r en by volume in the gas mixture to be eiqaanded;

The process of the present invention eliminates entirely or at least partly the heat exchanger and adsorber arrangernent respectively which had been necessary up to now.

Surprisingly, it was also found that it is not even necessary to use excessively low temperatures to obtain the specific low partial pressure for the various impurities and other constituents, which is still admissible without damaging the expansion machine, particularly the turbine, by traces of condensates and/or solid products separated therein. Since the invention also relates to the application in gas mixtures having comparatively low carbon dioxide con-tent, for example, for the recovery of solvents, like carbon sulfide or methanol from air or for separating S0 preferably from roast gases, the pnoces's according to the invention works at the limit of an optimum economy, which is not possible in the known processes working at the dew point of the principal con stituent.

In order to eliminate the influence of last traces of condensates and solid constituents respectively accumulating in the expansion machine, it is possible-according to a spwial feature of the invention-to work alternately with at least two different expansion machines, one of which is scavenged intermittently with a neutral gas and if necessary, heated.

An apparatus for carrying out the process according to the invention is represented schematically and by way of an example in the attached drawing.

The apparatus so illustrated is one adapted to be used for recovering S0 from a roast gas containing the same.

A roast gas, dried with sulfuric acid and freed from dust and S0 and containing about l015% S0 is brought by means of a turbo blower 1 to a pressure of about 1.6 atm. After preliminary cooling in a water cooler 2, it is cooled in the regenerators 3, 4 and 5 respectively which are reversed in a three-stroke cycle by pneumatic control. In the first regenerator the gas is cooled to about C. The S0 contained in the roast gas is deposited partly in solid form on the surfaces of the filling bodies in the regenerator. The next regenerator is evacuated by a vacuum pump 8 with addition of scavenging gas; thereby S0 evaporates again. The last regenerator withdraws cold from the SO -free waste gas.

According to the invention one of two expansion turbines 6, 6 is connected directly to the regenerator--in the assumed valve position, regenerator 3t-raversed by the crude gas. This is possible (a) because the partial pressure of the S becomes so low during the cooling of the crude gas to about -120 C. that there remain only about 5 p.p.rn. S0 (5 percent by volume S0 in the total gas and (17) because the content of carbon dioxide in the initial gases to be freed from the high boiling constituents is less than 0.5 percent and its dew point is lower than 120 C. These small residual amounts of 80;, are no longer harmful for the expansion machine, since the small amount of S0 in the gas leaving the regenerator has no effect on the turbine while on the other hand, the relatively low temperature of 120 C. can be tolerated without deteriorating the refrigerating power of the expansion process. The crude gas expanded in the expansion turbine 6 is led ofi through the regenerator 5. The small amount of gas is taken from this waste gas current for scavenging the regenerator 4. The turbine produces so much cold that the losses in the regenerator plant are compensated for. The concentrate, enricred to about 50% S0 is taken from the plant at 7. The current flow of gas, at the valve setting shown in the drawing, is indicated in the drawing by double arrows. The two expansion turbines 6, 6 can be interchanged in this way that the second turbine is used for the expansion of the sO -free crude gas when the first regenerator is being freed by means of a scavenging gas from SO deposits found therein.

' that the CO content of the roast gas is not condensed whilst the S0 content of the roast gas in reduced to a content of at least about 1 10- and at most about 5 to 10 percent by volume of S0 before expanding it.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,089,558 Karwat Aug. 10, 1937 2,411,680 Dennis Nov. 26, 1946 2,520,862 Swearington Aug. 29, 1950 2,708,831 Wilkinson May 24, 1955 2,760,356 Sixsmith Aug. 28, 1956 OTHER REFERENCES Gas Liquefaction and Rectification (Davies), published by Longmans, Green and Company, Incorporated (New York), 1949, pages 83 and 84, relied on. 

